This invention relates to a shelving standard, to a method of making a shelving standard and to a shelving system.
Shelving assemblies are commonly used in a retail environment. An assembly typically comprises a pair of side-by-side vertically disposed slotted shelving standards with cantilever brackets hooked into the slots and shelves resting on pairs of brackets. The assembly is secured to a wall with screws which extend through bores in the standards.
Shelving standards are currently typically formed from three metal pieces: a rectangular plate with a medial line of slots stamped therein, and two L-shaped pieces spot welded to the plate on either side of the line of slots so as to result in a xe2x80x9cΠxe2x80x9d-shaped profile. After welding, bores are drilled through the standard where the L-shaped pieces join to the plate to provide screw holes to affix the standard to a wall. Often the bores are countersunk. Such a standard is of relatively expensive manufacture.
With a shelving standard having a xe2x80x9cΠxe2x80x9d-shaped profile, it is necessary to provide a gap in the wall behind the standard to accommodate the hooks of the brackets which extend through the slots of the standard. Additionally, to ensure a secure mount to a wall, it is preferable to screw a standard into a wall stud. To meet these criteria, in setting up a wall for supporting a shelving assembly, pairs of studs are erected with a small gap between them. Next, a shelving standard is screwed into a pair of adjacent studs such that the medial line of slots overlies the gap between the pair of studs. Now wall panels may be screwed to the studs such that a side edge of a wall panel abuts a depending leg of one of the L-shaped pieces of the shelving standard. Lastly, brackets may be hooked into slots in the shelving standard and shelves erected between brackets of adjacent shelving standards. Such a shelving standard system is relatively costly.
This invention seeks to overcome drawbacks of known methods of forming shelving standards and of known shelving standard systems.
The present invention fabricates a shelving standard from a single plate with portions of the plate folded back on themselves, preferably utilizing roll forming operations. This allows bores formed in the plate before roll forming to be aligned in pairs as through holes when portions of the plate are folded over on themselves. By forming one bore of a pair larger than another, the bore pair becomes a countersunk hole. Such a shelving standard may be screwed to a stud which has a gap therein so that a line of slots in the standard is aligned with the gap. The stud also has a transverse through hole supporting a cross-member. Wall panels are provided with clips which rest on the cross-member so that wall panels may be mounted without being screwed to the stud.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of making a shelving standard comprising: forming a medial line of longitudinal slots in a metal plate; roll forming said metal plate to fold said metal plate into a configuration suitable for use as a shelving standard.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a shelving standard comprising: a web bent from a single plate so as to have a profile with a xe2x80x9cΠxe2x80x9d shape, said xe2x80x9cΠxe2x80x9d shape having a pair of legs and a pair of wings, each wing having a lower layer from which one of said legs depend and an upper layer overlying said lower layer; a plurality of slots in said web between said pair of legs; a plurality of bores in said upper layer of said each wing and a plurality of bores in said lower layer of said each wing, said bores in said upper layer aligned with said bores in said lower layer so as to form through holes in said each wing.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a shelving system, comprising: a wall stud having a wall with a gap or indentation; a shelving standard having a xe2x80x9cΠxe2x80x9d-shaped profile with a base and a pair of depending legs and a line of slots extending along said base between said legs; said base of said standard joined to said stud across said gap or indentation of said stud such that said slots are aligned with said gap or indentation.